Yearly Archives: 2015

AD2460 Goes Free To Play

AD2460 Goes Free To Play news header

 

The Norwegian developer Fifth Season AS who runs AD2460, the science fiction online real time web-strategy game, has just announced that the game will go “free-to-play” on December 7th.

AD2460 has, since it’s initial launch in December 2014, steadily been expanded with more content and functionality. This has been well-received by the user-base, and further additions are already planned for the game. As a subscription-based game, AD2460 has not had the anticipated user growth needed for an entertaining MMO. Fifth Season is now launching ‘Patch 7’, which will add a lot of new content to the game, but most importantly, it turns the game into a free-to-play game.

Until December 7th AD2460 is open and playable under its current business model with a 15 day free trial on http://www.ad2460.com. After the patch the subscription cost will be removed and all active game accounts prior to the patch will no longer be charged daily subscription cost.

Fifth Season has always been very clear in their stance against “pay-to-win” so even though the game now goes “free-to-play” it will have no elements of “pay-to-win”. The elements one can spend money on will all be based around added fun and customization. Such features include facial and graphical commander elements, placing bounties on your opponents and “War-Games” where you can challenge opponents for practice or fun without risking losing your fleets. It is anticipated that all of these features will be expanded upon throughout future patches as well.

Sphere 3: Enchanted World is out now

Sphere 3: Enchanted World is out now news header

Today is a big day for Nikita Online! Their biggest project of this year is finally out and available for players worldwide! Now you can download and play Sphere 3: Enchanted World for free on its official website and also on Steam.

Sphere 3: Enchanted World is a brand new MMORPG created for the most hardcore players. Missed the unstoppable PVP-action with non-target system? This game surely will bring you all you want! Take part in epic sieges of huge castles. Use a wide arsenal of siege engines to achieve your goal. Do not focus on the only one strategy — you have thousands ways to be victorious!

Sphere 3: Enchanted World has a strong classic fantasy storyline which currently consists of more than 1000 quests. It will take approximately 600 hours in total to make a complete journey through the story of political deceit, war atrocities and vile treachery.

Dogma: Eternal Night World Information Revealed

Dogma: Eternal Night World Information Revealed news header

Prelude Games Factory continues its Kickstarter campaign and shares details about the upcoming MMORPG. Recent updates include information about the in-game societies, targeting system and characters.

“During the first week of our campaign we received support from more than 300 backers and have already reached quarter of our goal. On behalf of our team I would like to say a very big thanks to all the people that believe in us and our project. I’m sure we will be able to share some more secrets about the Dogma world before the end of the campaign,” says Denis “AiryKai” Petrov, founder and lead designer at Prelude Games Factory. “In addition, a special thanks goes to Mark Rein-Hagen, creator of the famous Vampire: The Masquerade role-playing game, who supported our Kickstarter campaign by becoming a backer.

Perfect World Entertainment Announces Winter Events

Perfect World Entertainment Announces Winter Events news header

With the holidays approaching, Perfect World Entertainment, Inc. is celebrating the season with special Winter Events for Star Trek Online, Neverwinter, Perfect World International, Forsaken World and Champions Online. Today, Star Trek Online and Champions Online players can begin celebrating and earning all-new rewards. A complete list of Winter Events across many of our titles as well as a list of event rewards can be found below.

 

Neverwinter (PC & Xbox One): Winter Festival of Simril
December 17 – January 7

Winter Festival celebrations are held at the village of Twilight Tor up in the frozen north. Players will be given daily quests, one of which gives a coupon for a free Starlight Parcel!

Starlight Parcels are gifts for players and their party members! When opened, individual gifts pop out onto the ground for everyone to collect, so don’t worry about stealing from your friends. As players open more Starlight Parcels, they’ll earn chances for bigger and better rewards, including some of the headline mounts and companions from other events!

Adventurers can earn other great rewards by returning each day to complete daily quests, and by competing in the map-wide contests to slay monsters on ice, accumulating a high racing score, or catching the biggest and best fish!

PC New Rewards:

  • Demon Sled Mount
  • Snowy Fawn Companion
  • Beacon of Simril Artifact
  • New Winter-style Scaves
  • Rewards from prior Winter Events

Xbox One Rewards:

  • Winter Sled Mount
  • Fawn of Shialla Pompanion
  • Frozen Mimic Companion
  • Winter Scarf transmute items

 

Star Trek Online: Q’s Winter Wonderland
December 3 – January 14

Q’s Winter Wonderland allows Captains to experience Q’s universe and earn seasonal trinkets, as well as festive prizes. In the all-new Cone of Conduct event, players can battle snowmen in the gingerbread village and build a fearsome ally, the Snowconian in order to defeat the jealous Snowman. Players can also participate in holiday events including ice-skating, pie-eating contests, facing down assimilated Borg snowmen, and more!

New Rewards:

  • T6 Breen Rezreth Dreadnought
  • 6 New Winter Jackets
  • 10 winter-themed ground weapons and devices including Bat’leths, Lirpas, and Assault weapons
  • 3 Kit modules: Cryogenic Stasis Field, Cryo Mine Barrier, and Cryotronic Modulation
  • Snowconian Pet
  • 3 Training Manuals: Endothermic Inhibitor Beam I, II, and III
  • Rewards from prior Winter Events

 

PWI: Year-End Events

Holiday Login Bonus Event
December 18 – 27

Each day players login to PWI, they will receive a small gift.

Holiday Login Rewards:

  • Daily login prizes
  • War Avatar Pack (Only for logging in all 10 days of the event)

Penguin Shot Daily
December 21 – January 4

Players can gain the power of the Penguin Shot from the Four Lady Emperors at 10:00 am, 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm (Server Time) and complete the daily challenges to receive new event rewards.

Penguin Shot Rewards:

  • Super XP Bonus
  • Primal Blood
  • War Avatar

Sunset Valley Release
December 23

Players can team up with players from their server or other servers and engage in a skirmish on PWI’s new relaxed, cross-server battleground.
Sunset Valley Rewards:

  • War Avatar
  • Holy Pill

Forsaken World: 12 Days of Giveaways
December 14 – 25

Forsaken World’s 12 Days of Giveaways is here! For 12 days leading up to Christmas day, players can login to Forsaken World everyday and receive gifts to help battle monsters, level up and complete quests! The rewards will become better each day they login. This is the biggest giveaway of the year!

Rewards (by day):

  1. Flowers x 12
  2. Star Crystals x 11
  3. Paragon Pack x 10
  4. Elite Star of Hope x 9
  5. Polystone Orbs x 8
  6. Warlord Pack (1 Day) x 7
  7. Gem Lights x 6 (Eagle-Eye, Mistshroud, Ragefire, Solarflare, Bloodstone, Azurecloud)
  8. Mysterious Gold Chests x 5
  9. Dragon Scale Refiner x 4
  10. Ancient Volume x 3
  11. Divine Token x 2
  12. Santa Pet

 

Champions Online: Black Harlequin & Holiday Event
December 3 – 31

Millennium City has been transformed into a winter wonderland! Throughout the month, Champions can visit Renaissance Center to check out the ornamented tree, visit the Toy Drive store and gather presents to collect special rewards from the Helper Elves. Starting December 11, players can battle Clarence, the giant teddy bear, and Black Harlequin, who has turned the abandoned foundry into a workshop to create deadly toys. On December 24, players can visit the decorated tree to open a present, which may contain one of the rewards listed below.

New Winter Event Rewards:

  • Steampunk Jetpack Costume Piece
  • Steampunk Backpack Costume Piece
  • Steampunk Goggles Costume Piece (2 variants)
  • Steampunk Rocket Boots Costume Piece
  • Steampunk Shoulders Costume Piece
  • Steampunk Gauntlets Costume Piece
  • Steampunk Mustaches Piece (2 variants)
  • Toy Soldier Arms & Legs Costume Pieces
  • Wind-up Key Back Costume Piece
  • The Duckfoot Gun (Shotgun Weapon Skin)
  • Blunderbuss (Shotgun Weapon Skin)
  • Harquebus (Shotgun Weapon Skin)
  • Curling Broom (Heavy Weapon Skin)
  • Millennium Spirit 903F Grav Bike
  • Frozen Winter Sleigh

Heroes of the Storm Update: Single Hero Played By Two Players?!

By Mohammad Abubakr

Anyone that knows me or has read some of my past articles knows that I love playing ARTS/MOBA games. For a player coming from Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm can seem very simplified and missing many features. However, what keeps me coming back for more is that Heroes of the Storm does not try to be like Dota. Instead, Blizzard has continuously offered players a new way to play this genre, it is not just the usual farm, build items, team fight, and push you find in other games. HoTS always has something interesting to offer in its action packed games. The latest update once again shows Blizzard’s creativity and desire to set itself apart from other games in this genre. Read on to learn more about the latest addition to Heroes of the Storm roster, Cho’Gall, and the latest battleground, Towers of Doom.

Cho’Gall is a two-headed ogre trained in the arts of the arcane by the warlock Gul’dan. He is an Initiate of the Fifth Circle of the Shadow Council and Chieftain of the Twilight’s Hammer clan. He is the first of the ogre magi. Cho’Gall is made up of two personalities sharing the same body: Gall is a cunning master of dark magics and Cho is a powerful warrior. If both Cho and Gall can work well together, he (they?) can be quite an intimidating opponent.

Being a two headed ogre, it would only be natural for Cho’Gall to be played by two players, right? Well, I certainly did not expect this mechanic to be implemented into HoTS but Blizzard is always surprising us with their creativity. In order to play Cho’Gall, you will need another player to control the other half. Cho is in charge of moving while Gall only has to worry about landing his spells. As crazy as this sounds, it works quite well if you are playing using some sort of voice communication.

 

 

Cho’Gall can only be played if both Cho and Gall have been selected

 

Cho is a warrior that can charge into battle and take quite a beating. He has a lot of health points as he shares it with Gall, his other half. Cho’s first ability, Surging First, can be used to charge at enemies, damaging and knocking them aside. This ability is not very strong in terms of damage but it is great to close the gap or get away. His second ability, Consuming Blaze, ignites nearby enemies dealing heavy damage over 4 seconds. This ability is also useful to heal up as if you hit an enemy you regenerate a large amount of health over 4 seconds. His third ability, Rune Bomb, rolls a bomb dealing heavy damage to enemies in its path. This ability only works well if Gall is paying attention and detonates the bomb on time.

Finally, for those that are unfamiliar with HoTS, Cho can choose between two different heroic abilities (ultimate): Hammer of Twilight or Upheaval. Hammer of Twilight improves Cho’s attack damage and also adds an additional active which deals massive damage, pushes enemies away, and stuns – all on a very short cooldown. On the other hand, Upheaval is a more team oriented ability as it pulls enemies towards you, slowing them and dealing moderate damage.

I personally prefer Upheaval over Hammer of Twilight in most scenarios as I tend to play with a group and this ability is great with a well-coordinated team. It can be used to deal massive area of effect damage to clumped up enemies after pulling them in, pull enemies that are trying to escape, or simply peel off enemies from the group. However, if you are not playing with a group or are playing with a team that does not work well together, Hammer of Twilight may be the obvious choice.

 

 

Cho’Gall can be brought down quickly if focused on

 

Contrasting from Cho’s massive health pool and toughness, Gall is a spell caster. Unlike other spell casters, he does not have to worry about his health pool as it is shared with Cho. Instead, Gall only worries about landing his spells and coordinating well with Cho. His first ability, Shadow Flame, deals heavy damage to enemies in the area and his second ability, Dread Orb, throws a bomb that bounces three times dealing heavy damage to enemies. Both of these abilities can be spammed during the laning phase to harass enemies or push the wave. His third ability, Runic Blast, cannot be used unless Cho tosses his bomb. Runic Blast will detonate Cho’s Rune Bomb dealing massive damage around it.

His first ultimate ability, Twisting Nether, slows nearby enemies and can be activated again to deal massive damage. This ability, like Cho’s Upheaval, is great if your team works well together. If not, then Shadow Bolt Volley may be a better choice as it unleashes 20 Shadow Bolts dealing heavy damage to a single enemy.

If Cho and Gall are in sync, Cho’Gall can be very strong. However, he can easily be one of the worst heroes in the game if both players are not working together. He is a very rewarding hero if you play well but on the other hand, dying as Cho’Gall means your team is down two players. A lot of spells that take enemies out of the fight for some time work twice as well on Cho’Gall as you get to remove two heroes for the price of one.

 

 

Towers of Doom is very action packed

 

When you are playing as Cho or Gall, it is important to never become scared and run from fights. You can take on two enemies at once and easily run over a single hero. However, make sure that both players are on the same page. Are we running, engaging, or chasing? If you both are on the same page, you can use your abilities in sync to deal massive damage or escape.

For those playing against Cho’Gall, his large health pool makes him an easy target for % health damaging abilities. This makes heroes that possess the Giant Killer talent especially strong against Cho’Gall. Do not attempt to fight Cho’Gall alone, remember that you are going up against two heroes, not one. Instead, group up and approach Cho’Gall as if he is a raid boss. With this mindset, Cho’Gall can be taken down and you won’t be running around screaming ‘OP OP OP’ (overpowered).

Cho’Gall was a great addition to the Heroes of the Storm roster with his unique playstyle and fun mechanics. If this wasn’t enough, Blizzard also included a new battleground, Towers of Doom, in the latest patch. On this battleground, the objectives are mandatory and cannot be ignored in some circumstances like on other maps. Instead of clearing waves and destroying the enemy base, you must capture the map objectives to deal damage to the enemy core.

 

 

Capturing Altars can potentially end the game

 

When playing on Towers of Doom, both enemy cores start with 40 hit points. When you capture an altar, the enemy core is barraged with attacks from your forts. Both teams start off with 3 forts on this unique tug-of-war style battleground; you can lose or gain more forts by destroying them. The more forts you have, the more damage you can deal when capturing altars.

Once again, Blizzard is changing up how we play ARTS/MOBA games. At first they got rid of farming and item building, but with Towers of Doom, even the method of winning a game has changed. While this is a nice concept, I am personally not a huge fan of this map. Firstly, it does not fit my playstyle as I love pushing and farming. Once we get past that personal preference, Towers of Doom still feels quite unbalanced when compared to other maps. It is described as a tug-of-war style battleground but it honestly feels like if you let your rope get pulled too far, you can never get it back. All of the other battlegrounds, and HoTS in general, is great when it comes to comebacks. You never really lose the game until your core has been destroyed. However on Towers of Doom, it can be very difficult to come back if you are behind and have lost your forts.

This may be a good or bad design decision depending on the player. I personally love comebacks and never knowing when the game is over. I’m not saying that comebacks are impossible on Towers of Doom, they are just a lot more uncommon. This may change in the future as we all become more familiar with the battleground. The ARTS/MOBA genre is amazing because it is always evolving.

 

 

Forts on Towers of Doom can be recaptured

 

Conclusion: Blizzard continues to set HoTS apart from the competition

I was very pleased with the latest HoTS patch. Blizzard continues to set Heroes of the Storm apart from other games in the genre. It does not try to be the next Dota but instead takes the general play style of Dota, couples it with the creative minds at Blizzard, and creates a unique and fun game. I never expected a hero such as Cho’Gall to be released in any game; it seems crazy to have a hero controlled by two players in a serious setting but Blizzard pulled it off. I just wish there was some sort of in game voice chat to coordinate with other Cho’Gall players. For now it seems like you will have to resort to using third party options when playing with friends and usually avoid Cho’Gall when playing with random players.

Normally I would expect to pull out my wallet and spend some money unlocking the latest hero but with Cho’Gall it is different. Attendees of the latest Blizzcon have received Cho’Gall for free and winning two games with someone that already has Cho’Gall will unlock the hero for you. At first I thought I would have a hard time getting Cho’Gall, but with Blizzard rewarding players that help others unlock Cho’Gall, you can quickly find someone willing to help you unlock Cho’Gall. (Hint: Even wins against bots count towards unlocking Cho’Gall!). I would hurry and unlock Cho’Gall for free while you can, this event only lasts until January 1st, after which Cho’Gall will need to be purchased just like a regular hero.

Sphere 3

Sphere 3 is an MMORPG by NIKITA ONLINE. Featuring unstoppable PvP action and non-targeting combat, Sphere 3 is tailored made for hardcore gamers. Take part in epic sieges of huge castles, take on over 1000 quests and more.

Features:

Total PvP: Battles and engagements between individual players, parties, clans, alliances and factions in different modes can occur on the most parts of the game map, sometimes with no exception for stating areas, so prepare for battle at all times.

Non-target combat: Sphere 3 combat system provides total freedom of aiming, dynamically calculates the damage and allows a player to quickly pick an optimum attacking ability at a given range.

Story-driven adventure: The game’s storyline comprises more than 1000 quests moving through which a player makes up to 80% of levelling progress.

PK and Karma System: PK is not persecuted in numerous free PvP zones, while gathering bad karma points causes an offender to lose both gold and items after death.